Method and apparatus for extending a pre-paid calling card limit

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a system and method for extending a limit of a pre-paid calling card without disconnecting the communicating parties. When a first party makes a call using a pre-paid calling card and the limit of the calling card is reached, a call extender either queries the called party or launches a call to another party to query if these parties would pay for the remainder of the call or whether the parties would pay for extending the limit by an agreed amount. If a party agrees to pay for one of the above options, the call extender permits the call to continue and bills the accepting party accordingly.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/067,654,filed Apr. 27, 1998.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention provides a device and method for extending a pre-paidcalling card limit.

2. Description of Related Art

Pre-paid calling cards may be purchased for preset amounts such asincrements of $10, $20 and $50, for example. The pre-paid calling cardmay be used for telephone calls to a called party for a certain numberof minutes up to a limit corresponding to the dollar amount of the card,for example. Conventionally, when the limit is reached during a call,the call is terminated immediately and the caller must purchaseadditional pre-paid calling card time to again call the called party.The above sequence of events is very inconvenient and undesirable. Thus,new technology is required to avoid the above undesirable circumstances.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a system and method for extending a limit of apre-paid calling card without disconnecting the communicating parties.When a calling party makes a call using the pre-paid calling card andthe limit of the calling card is reached, a call extender queriesanother party which could be the called party, other parties or thecalling party to obtain an account number to pay for the remainder ofthe call or to extend the limit by an agreed amount. If one of theparties agrees to pay, the call extender permits the call to continueand bills the accepting party accordingly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiments of this invention are described with referenceto the following figures, wherein like numerals represent like elements,and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a pre-paid calling card extender system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a calling card extender;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a database used by the calling card extender;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a calling card; and

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of a process of the calling card extender.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a calling card extender system 100 that includes telephonestations 102-108 coupled to a network 114 through local exchangecarriers (LEC) 110 and 112. Also coupled to the network is a callingcard extender 116. While FIG. 1 shows the calling card extender 116 as acentralized system, all the functions of the calling card extender 116may be performed by distributed units such as the LEC 110 and 112.However, for ease of discussion, the following description assumes thatthe calling card extender 116 is centralized as shown in FIG. 1.

While the database 118 is shown in FIG. 1 to be connected directly tothe calling card extender 116, the database 118 may be physicallylocated anywhere in the network 114. The following description assumesthat the data related to the pre-paid calling card is stored in thedatabse 118.

When a calling party at the telephone station 102 makes a call to acalled party using a pre-paid calling card by dialing an 800 number andentering the pre-paid calling card number, for example, the call isrouted through the LEC 112 and the network 114 to the calling cardextender 116. The calling card extender 116 retrieves calling card datafrom a database 118 based on the pre-paid calling card number to confirmthat the pre-paid calling card is valid and that a limit associated withthe pre-paid calling card has not been reached. If the limit has notbeen reached, the calling card extender 116 connects the call to thecalled party at the telephone station 108, for example.

After the call is connected, the calling card extender 116 continues tomonitor the call to detect if the limit associated with the pre-paidcalling card is reached. For example, if the pre-paid calling card hasten minutes of calling time remaining, the calling card extender 116monitors the call until the ten-minute limit is reached. When reached,instead of disconnecting the call, the calling card extender 116attempts to extend the limit by querying the calling party, the calledparty, or another party whether they are willing to accept charges toextend the limit of the pre-paid calling card.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the calling card extender 116. Thecalling card extender 116 includes a controller 202, a memory 204, adatabase interface 208 and a network interface 206. The above componentsare coupled via a signal bus 210.

When the controller 202 receives a pre-paid calling card call throughthe network interface 206, the controller 202 retrieves calling carddata associated with the pre-paid calling card from either the memory204 or the database 118 through the database interface 208 based on thepre-paid calling card number. The controller 202 may verify that thecalling card number is valid and check whether the limit value of thecalling card has not been reached or exceeded. If the above checks aresatisfied (i.e., card valid and limit not reached), the controller 202initializes a current consumption value and updates the currentconsumption value as the pre-paid calling card call progresses based onthe calling card data as described below.

FIG. 3 shows calling card data 300 stored in the database 118. Thecalling card data contains entries 302, 304 for each of the pre-paidcalling cards of subscribers. Each of the calling card entries 302, 304includes a calling card number field 306, a type field 308, an amountremaining field 310, and an extension preferences field 312, forexample. The calling card number field 306 identifies the calling cardby the pre-paid calling card number for example. The type field 308 mayindicate the type of limit associated with the pre-paid calling card.For example, the pre-paid calling card may be a fixed dollar amountcalling card. For such a calling card, the amount remaining field 310may be a dollar amount remaining for the pre-paid calling card. Iftelephone charges are 10¢ per minute and the pre-paid calling card has$10 remaining then charges for calls are deducted from the amountremaining field 310 until the amount remaining field 310 reaches zero.At this point, either another pre-paid calling card is purchased or anadditional dollar amount may be purchased using the same pre-paidcalling card.

If the type field 308 indicates a time calling card, then the amountremaining field 310 includes a time remaining regardless of the cost.For this type of pre-paid calling card, an optional billing data field314 is added for billing a designated party for the cost relating to theamount of time consumed using the pre-paid calling card.

This type of pre-paid calling card provides the subscriber freedom tomake calls at different rates without having to compute the amount oftime remaining for the pre-paid calling card. For example, a parent maypurchase such a pre-paid calling card for a college student and limitthe number of minutes that may be consumed using the pre-paid callingcard. The billing data field 314 directs the bill to the parent to payfor the minutes consumed by the pre-paid calling card.

The type field may also indicate a date calling card. For this type ofcalling card, a schedule of valid dates is specified when charges forcalls are covered by the calling card. For example, if a subscribertakes a vacation and purchases a calling card only for the vacationdays. This way, if the card is misplaced after the vacation or lostduring the vacation, the potential liability is reduced if noteliminated. If the vacation is extended, then the subscriber may extendthe calling card limit via the calling card extender 116.

The extension preferences field 312 includes identification of partiesthat may accept payment for extending the limit of the pre-paid callingcard. For example, the extension preferences field 312 may include thecalling party, the called party, or other parties that may be willing topay for the charges required either to complete a call or to firerextend the limit of the pre-paid calling card.

For example, if a parent purchased the pre-paid calling card for thecollege student to call home and the limit is exceeded during a call,the parent may be willing to pay for a remaining duration of the call orto further extend the limit of the pre-paid calling card. Thus, whileengaged in a conversation with the college student and the amountindicated in the amount remaining field 310 is reached, the parent maywish to approve completing the call and pay for the required extensionor to extend the limit of the pre-paid calling card by an agreed amountsuch as an hour.

If the pre-paid calling card is used by a business person travelingoverseas and the pre-paid calling card limit is reached while engaged ina conversation with a client, the businessperson may not wish for theclient to be queried whether to pay for the remaining conversation. Thebusinessperson may wish to have the opportunity to charge the call to acompany account number or request another party to pay for the call.Thus, the extension preferences field 312 may include thebusinessperson's home office telephone number so that the home officemay be contacted to approve further extension of the limit of thepre-paid calling card Thus, the extension preferences field 312 maycontain a list of parties identified by their respective numbers such astelephone numbers, so that these parties may be contacted when necessaryto extend the limit of a pre-paid calling card.

The list of parties in the extension preferences field 312 may beordered in a priority order. For example, the businessperson may preferto be queried first, the home office be queried second, perhaps his hometelephone queried third, and then, as a last resort, query the calledparty.

Returning to FIG. 2, when the limit of the pre-paid calling card hasbeen reached, the controller 202 retrieves from the database 118 theextension preferences field 312 and generates a message that isappropriate for the highest priority party to be contacted. For example,if the highest priority party to be contacted is the called party, themessage may be: “Would you be willing to accept the charges for theremainder of this call. If you accept charges please press one.” If thecalled party accepts the charges by pressing one (or any other methodknown in the art such as a voice command), the controller 202 permitsthe call to continue and bills the called party's telephone number forthe cost of the remainder portion of the call.

If the calling party in the extension preferences field 312 is a homeoffice number, the controller 202 may launch a call to the home officenumber through the network interface 206. If the call is answered, thecontroller 202 may output a message such as: “Please indicate whetheryou accept charges for extending the limit for calling card number #####for Mr. Businessperson by pressing one followed by the number of minutesto extend the limit.” Assuming that the operator of the home office hasreceived prior instructions, the pre-paid calling card for Mr.Businessperson would be extended when necessary. Upon receivingacceptance, the controller 202 updates the amount remaining field 310 bythe amount entered by the home office operator and then permits the callto continue.

If either the home office operator fails to accept the charges or thecall is not answered, the controller 202 proceeds to the next partyidentified in the extension preferences field 312 and launches a call tothat party. The sequence continues until the list of parties in theextension preferences field 312 is exhausted. If none of the partiescontacted answer the call or no one contacted accepts the charges, thecall is disconnected. If the charges are accepted by one of thecontacted parties, the controller 202 either updates the amountremaining field 310 to extend the limit or remembers that the acceptingparty is paying for the remainder of the call and updates the billingdata field 314 to ensure that proper billing is achieved.

In all the above examples for extending the limit value, the limit valuemay be extended any number of times during a single call. Thus, if theparty contacted first is willing to extend the call only for a smallamount, another party may be contacted to further extend the limitvalue.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a calling card 120 having an identification126 that may include a card number and name, a date of issue 122 and amagnetic strip 124 on the backside of the card 120. When a subscribermakes a pre-paid calling card call, the card number may be entered toidentify the pre-paid calling card and to allow the call extender 116 toretrieve pre-paid calling card information from the database 118. Whenavailable, a device may be coupled to the telephone station 102 used bythe subsciber that may read and/or write to and from the magnetic strip124, for example. In this case, the subscriber may simply insert thepre-paid calling card 120 in the device to enter the pre-paid callingcard number when making a call.

For the card 120, the magnetic strip 124 may serve as the database 118and store all the information needed for the calling card extender 116to process the pre-paid calling card. Thus, when the limit of thepre-paid calling card is extended, the calling card extender 116 maywrite onto the magnetic strip 124 in the amount remaining field 310 theextended limit of the pre-paid calling card.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of a process of the calling card extender 116.In step S1000, the controller 202 receives a calling card call and goesto step S1002. In step S1002, the controller 202 retrieves the callingcard information from the database 118 (or either from the memory 204 orfrom the magnetic strip 124) and goes to step S1004. In step S1004, thecontroller 202 retrieves the amount remaining field 310 and determineswhether a limit of the pre-paid calling card has been reached. If thelimit has been reached, the controller 202 goes to step S1012;otherwise, the controller goes to step S1006. In step S1006, thecontroller 202 determines whether the calling card call has beenconnected to the called party. If the call has not been connected, thecontroller 202 goes to step S1008; otherwise, the controller goes tostep S1030. In step S1008, the calling card extender 116 connects thecall to the called party and returns to step S1004.

In step S1012, the calling card extender 116 determines whether thepre-paid calling card has the extension option enabled. If enabled, thecalling card extender 116 goes to step S1014; otherwise, the callingcard extender goes to step S1010. In step S1014, the calling cardextender queries the caller whether extending the expired limit of thepre-paid calling card is desired. If desired, the calling card extender116 goes to step S1016; otherwise, the calling card extender 116 goes tostep S1010. In step S1016, the calling card extender determines whetherthe extension is desired to extend only the current call or to extendthe limit independent of the current call. If the limit is to beextended only to cover the current call, the calling card extender 116goes to step S1018; otherwise, the calling card extender 116 goes tostep S1020. In step S1018, the calling card extender 116 generates amessage that only requests coverage of the current call and goes to stepS1022. In step S1020, the calling card extender 116 generates a messageto request extension of the limit of the pre-paid calling card and goesto step S1022.

In step S1022, the calling card extender 116 retrieves the informationin the extension preferences field 312 and determines whether thecalling/called party or other parties are to be contacted. If thecalling/called party is to be contacted, the controller 202 goes to stepS1026; otherwise, the controller 202 goes to step S1024. In step S1026,the controller 202 outputs the generated message as a query to eitherthe calling or the called party and goes to step S1028. In step S1024,the controller 202 launches a call to the other party and goes to stepS1014. In step S1014, the controller 202 determines whether the call isanswered If answered, the controller 202 goes to step S1026; otherwise,the controller goes to step S1032.

In step S1028, the controller determines whether the queried partyaccepts the charges for extending the limit. If accepted, the controller202 goes to step S1030; otherwise, the controller goes to step S1032. Instep S1030, the controller 202 updates the billing data field 314 andmonitors the call to determine whether the call is completed. Ifcompleted, the controller 202 goes to step S1034; otherwise, thecontroller 202 returns to step S1004. In step S1034, the controllerupdates the databse 118 for the calling card by recording theappropriate billing information as well as adjusting the amountremaining field 310 and goes to step S1036 and ends the process.

In step S1032, the controller 202 determines whether there are moreparties in the extension preferences field 312 that have not beencontacted. If there are more parties, the controller 202 returns to stepS1022; otherwise, the controller goes to step S1010. Instep S1010, thecontroller 202 disconnects the call, goes to step S1036, and ends theprocess.

While this invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modificationsand variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth hereinare intended to be illustrative not limiting. Various changes may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for extending a limit value of apre-paid calling card during a first call by a first party to a secondparty, comprising: detecting whether the limit value of the pre-paidcalling card is reached; outputting a query to a third party differentfrom the first and second parties to determine whether the third partywould accept charges for extending the limit value if the limit value isreached; and extending the limit value if the third party accepts thecharges.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting step comprises:retrieving the limit value of the pre-paid calling card from a database;initializing a current consumption value of the pre-paid calling card;updating the current consumption value as the first call progresses; anddetermining whether the limit value is reached based on updated currentconsumption value.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisinginterpreting the limit and the current consumption values based on atype value retrieved from the database, the type value indicating thatthe limit and the current consumption values are at least one of a timevalue, a date value, and a cost value.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe outputting step comprises: retrieving an identification list of atleast one identification of the third party from the database;generating a message based on the identification of the third party; andoutputting the message to the third party as the query.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, further comprising: launching a second call to the third party;and outputting the message to,the third party if the third call isanswered.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: launchingadditional calls to other third parties identified in the identificationlist if either the second call is not answered or the third party doesnot accept the charges; and outputting the message to any one of theother third parties that answers one of the additional calls.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising disconnecting the first call ifeither none of the identified third parties in the identification listanswers either the second call or one of the additional calls, or ifnone of the third parties accepts the charges.
 8. The method of claim 4,wherein the at least one identification of the third party is ordered ina priority order.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the charges includepayment for completing the first call, the extending step comprising:permitting the first call to continue until completed if the chargesinclude completing the first call; and billing the third party for acost corresponding to an amount that the first call exceeded the limit.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the charges include payment forchanging the limit value to an agreed amount, the extending stepcomprising: changing the limit value to an extended limit value;permitting the first call to continue until the extended limit value isreached; outputting another query to the third party to determinewhether the third party accepts further charges for extending theextended limit value if the extended limit value is reached; andextending the extended limit value if the third party accepts thefurther charges.
 11. A calling card extender that extends a limit valueof a pre-paid calling card during a first call by a first party to asecond party, comprising: a memory; a controller coupled to the memory,wherein the controller detects whether the limit value of the pre-paidcalling card is reached, outputs a query to a third party different fromthe first and second parties to determine whether the third party wouldaccept charges for extending the limit value if the limit value isreached, and extends the limit value if the third party accepts thecharges.
 12. The extender of claim 11, wherein the controller retrievesthe limit value of the pre-paid calling card from a database,initializes a current consumption value of the pre-paid calling card,updates the current consumption value as the first call progresses, anddetermines whether the limit value is reached based on updated currentconsumption value.
 13. The extender of claim 12, wherein the controllerinterprets the limit and the current consumption values based on a typevalue retrieved from the database, the type value indicating that thelimit and the current consumption values are at least one of a timevalue, a date value, and a cost value.
 14. The extender of claim 11,wherein the controller retrieves an identification list of at least oneidentification of the third party from the database, generates a messagebased on the identification of the third party, and outputs the messageto the third party as the query.
 15. The extender of claim 14, whereinthe controller launches a second call to the third party and outputs themessage to the third party if the second call is answered.
 16. Theextender of claim 15, wherein the controller launches additional callsto other third parties identified in the identification list if eitherthe second call is not answered or the third party does not accept thecharges, and outputs the message to any one of the other third partiesthat answers one of the additional calls.
 17. The extender of claim 16,wherein the controller disconnects the first call if either none of theidentified third parties in the identification list answers either thesecond call or one of the additional calls, or if none of the thirdparties accepts the charges.
 18. The extender of claim 14, wherein theat least one identification of the third party is ordered in a priorityorder.
 19. The extender of claim 11, wherein the charges include paymentfor completing the first call, the controller permitting the first callto continue until completed if the charges include completing the firstcall, and billing the third party for a cost corresponding to an amountthat the first call exceeded the limit.
 20. The extender of claim 11,wherein the charges include payment for changing the limit value to anagreed amount, the controller changing the limit value to an extendedlimit value, permitting the first call to continue until the extendedlimit value is reached, outputting another query to the third party todetermine whether the third party accepts further charges for extendingthe extended limit value if the extended limit value is reached, andextending the extended limit value if the third party accepts thefurther charges.